In a carefully worded article titled “Defending the Family in a Troubled World” in the Ensign (June 2011), Elder Bruce D. Porter (of the Seventy) writes in the second paragraph of his article:

We also know that gender, as declared in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” is “an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.” The differences between men and women are not simply biological. They are woven into the fabric of the universe, a vital, foundational element of eternal life and divine nature.

I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person, but I don’t know what this paragraph means. But I’m reasonably sure that it is intended as a shot at gays and lesbians. Didn’t we learn anything from the Prop 8 fiasco? And I suspect that our knowledge about gender in the pre- and post-mortal existences is less that complete.

Elder Porter goes on:

Curious enough, this new modern tolerance is often a one-way street. Those who practice it expect everyone to tolerate them in anything they say or do, but show no tolerance themselves toward those who express differing viewpoints or defend traditional morality. . . .

We Mormon need to get over our persecution complex. Today’s Mormons are not being persecuted. The Jews were persecuted during the holocaust. The Blacks were persecuted before and during the Civil Rights movement.

Loving gay and lesbian couples are a threat to no one. They certainly aren’t a threat to my family. We do the LDS Church no good to pretend that they are. Gay rights is a civil rights issue not a moral one. And speculating on gender roles in the eternity is not helpful.